Trip to Shodojima Island (Kagawa Prefecture)

Just reached home from 2-day trip to Shodojima Island, just next to Kagawa in Shikoku Island, south of Himeji / Kobe city. Himeji is located 5 hours from Nagoya through expressway. We need to take a 90 minutes ferry ride to reach the island. The scenery during the ferry ride is just amazing!

I'm having very bad cold, and very tired too. Hope I could updatev this post with some pictures very soon. Just took some paracetamol and actifed tablets... my mind is so dizzy now. See you then ^_^

Miss you Hui :-)

Iraqi Journalist Threw Shoes at Bush at News Conference

Wow! This is amazing! I wonder what would happen if the shoes hit Mr. President's face.

"Jalan-Jalan" around Nagoya

Going around Nagoya yesterday with Prof. Gadkari. It was quite interesting, because he demanded to go back from Osu-Kannon to his hotel at Nagoya Station area by BUS. Frankly speaking, I never tried a bus in the city because train/subway is more efficient and has better reach in the city. That brought my first experience boarding a bus in Nagoya city, haha ^_^ We board a Meitetsu bus, not the normal blue/white-colored Nagoya city bus because the Meitetsu has better frequency (from the chart at the bus booth). Both have the same price plan. A Japanese guy helped us regarding the method.

We need to board the bus by back door, take a coupun (ticket??) at the door and get seated. When getting off, I need to change my JPY1,000 yen note to get JPY100 yen coin first (machine is at the driver seat). After that, put the coupon took at door during boarding into payment machine first, followed by JPY200 yen coin. [These are notes for myself actually].
Before that, I brought him to an Indian/Pakistani buffet restaurant at Kanayama. He was extremely happy being able to taste Indian cuisine, after a week of Japanese foods. Also met Brother Azlan and his family, and also Azmi, Rizal, and new postgraduate student from UTeM, at the same buffet restaurant.

IUMRS-ICA

http://www.iumrs-ica2008.jp/index.html



Went to International Union of Materials Research Society - International Conference in Asia (IUMRS-ICA) at Nagoya Congress Center, yesterday. Went there to meet Prof. Gadkari, actually. I had discussion with a Chinese researcher presenting about Gallium Nitride (GaN) bulk crystal growth from Gifu University (Japan). The topic was near to what I'm doing for my research, so it's quite a wonderful discussion. Also had discussion about TiO2 deposition with other researcher, also in my interest to be applied in mirror facet coating for my laser-diode (LD).

Gadkari also taught me new thing, it's about thermo-photovoltaic. This is really amazing! Normal solar-cell use photovoltaic mechanism to absorb photon (light) energy from sun, however, in thermo-photovoltaic, even small thermal energy from human body can be used to generate another energy! So, you can generate energy from not only sunlight, but also from sun-heat during the day. In the night, when there is no sunlight, heat from sleeping human body itself can generate energy! WOW! Gadkari is thinking to use his I*S* to enable this, due to its small band-gap, just around 0.2 eV. With small band-gap, even a small source energy can generate another energy. Haha... never been taught this thing at my laboratory. I realized today that my research group here're toooo stereotype!

Okay, that's all for this morning. Will go for "jalan-jalan" (shopping, eating out) with Gadkari this afternoon.

Pictures of Muslim Pilgrims in Mekkah (Mecca) during Hajj

Source: UPI.
Insya'Allah, I will also be here at least once in the future :)


Pilgrims pray at the birthplace of prophet Mohammed at the Grand Mosque, Islam's holiest shrine where some 2 million Muslims have been gathering for weeks in advance of the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca, Saudi Arabia on December 4, 2008. More than two million Muslims head to the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia to make the annual Hajj pilgrimage. All fit and financially able Muslims are expected to perform the Hajj at least once in their life. (UPI Photo/Mohammad Kheirkhah)


A sea of Muslims circle the Ka'baa, which Muslims believe was built by Prophet Abraham and his son Ismael, at the Grand Mosque, Islam's holiest shrine in Mecca, Saudi Arabia on December 4, 2008. More than two million Muslims head to holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, to make the annual Hajj pilgrimage. All fit and financially able Muslims are expected to perform the Hajj at least once in their life. (UPI Photo/Mohammad Kheirkhah)


An aerial view shows hundred of thousands of Muslim pilgrims circling seven times around the Ka'baa (C) which Muslims believe was built by Prophet Abraham and his son Ismael, at the Grand Mosque, Islam's holiest shrine in Mecca, Saudi Arabia on December 9, 2008. More than two million Muslims head to the holy city of Mecca to make the annual Hajj pilgrimage. (UPI Photo/Mohammad Kheirkhah)


Muslim pilgrims pray at Jabal Al Rahma, the mountain of mercy for the culmination of the Hajj, symbolizing the final judgment at the scene of Mohammed's last sermon 14 centuries ago, at Mount Arafat outside Mecca, Saudi Arabia on December 7, 2008. More than two million Muslims head to the holy city of Mecca to make the annual Hajj pilgrimage. (UPI Photo/Mohammad Kheirkhah)


Muslim pilgrims have a meal in the plain of Arafat outside Mecca, Saudi Arabia on December 6, 2008. More than two million Muslims head to the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, to make the annual Hajj pilgrimage. All fit and financially able Muslims are expected to perform the Hajj at least once in their life. (UPI Photo/Mohammad Kheirkhah).

Happy Aidiladha and Welcome :)

Tonight is a Muslim's special night because we will have Aidiladha celebration tomorrow. At 7PM last night, Malaysian students living in this city gathered and had "takbir", Islam-related talk, and dinner held at Nagoya Institute of Technology.

However, I only went for the "takbir" ceremony, as I have to take Prof. Gadkari coming from Mumbai University at Nagoya Chubu International Airport. He will attend IUMRS-ICA meeting at Nagoya Congress Center starting from Dec 9th till 12th. I departed from my university at 8PM, and arrived at the airport around 40 min later. Dr Gadkari came out of the immigration check at around 9:20PM... waahhh! Both of us were surprised to be able to meet again after almost half-a-year.

Actually, I came to know Dr. Gadkari when we were both attending MRS meeting in Chongqing, China. His work is in compound semiconductor, ... he's making the substrate to be exact. Mine is in the semiconductor growth and device... so, each of us have good interest in each other's work. He gave me a lot of advice in what I should pursuit in my research and life, and I appreciate him so so much. It's hard to find such easily approachable professor around me in Nagoya.

It's already too late now. I have to wake up early tomorrow morning as I will join my juniors to go to a special praying for Aidiladha next morning. I have to be at laboratory before and after that. In the evening, I will spend some time with Dr. Gadkari to show him some good restaurants around his hotel at Nagoya station area.

That's all for now.

You're always in my heart :) Wo ye xiang ni, Hui Hui ^^

18 Hours of Photo-Luminescence (PL) Mapping

Seems like I miscalculated the time for PL mapping of my LD sample. Did many times PL mapping for blue-violet LED samples before, normally it takes around 4 hours to map a 2 inch wafer.

This time, it is a LD sample. When I tested it this morning, the light intensity from the surface is very low, probably due to the LD structure itself which holds light within the active layer region (prevents light from being leaked to the surface). Therefore, I need to increase the detector scanning time to 3 sec (normally 0.2 sec) for each scan. There're 97 times scan of the circle 2" wafer surface with 0.5 mm pitch between each other. The stage controller also needs a few seconds to move the He-Cd laser to each pitch position, and the workstation also becomes slower and slower with increasing scan times... altogether causing an extremely slow experiments!

Normally, I could finish 2 samples in a day for normal LED samples, but for this LD sample, it takes my 2 days working hours just to finish a single sample. It's already 1:15AM in the midnight, I wonder where I would sleep tonight...

RapidXen VPS

RapidXen

Ordered a RapidXen VPS yesterday to setup a LAMP server, and for testing some virtualization manager for my other server. Just got a mail from the admin there saying that my account has been provosioned. Yahooooo! ^_^ But, I mistakenly shutted down the server with "shutdown -h now" command, it should be "shutdown -r now". Alamak! Tersilap! Haha... I'm mailing the admin (William Pitcock) asking how I could start up the server... aiseyyy...

Akasaki Research Center 8th Symposium

Akasaki Research Center Website

Attended Akasaki Research Center 8th Symposium at IB Building, Nagoya University today (Nov 20th, 2008). The event started at 10:30 until 17:30, with speakers that are among professors and associate professors from universities around Japan, France and Sweeden. I went there together with Dr Chin, Pum and Shu. The weather was pretty cool since the morning, but we went there by bicycle as planned (even though I thought I just want to go there by subway... but Pum came to my place by bicycle, so it'd be interesting too to go together by bicycle, hehe ^_^)

I've seen some of the contents in the talks in another meeting I attended before, but I'm totally impressed with presentation by Prof Noda of Kyoto University! He's doing research on photonic crystal, and his approach to GaN is pretty cool! Maybe I could try his approach photonic crystal on my InGaN on Si laser diode that I'm working with. It would take another 2 years though... but it's good for the continuity of my research in the future, probably when I have my own MOCVD in my own laboratory in Malaysia. I really need a MOCVD to realize my future research! It's not good to speculate much what I'm gonna do in the future as this is a public blog, but it's worth to note. His talk on PC (photonic-crystal) was really easy to understand, not like some other professors who just show plotted graphs and datas on their slide, without really explaining to the audiences what the basis and real-world facts.

The other talk that attracted my interest is by B. Monemar who explained about p-type doping (by Mg) in GaN. The good thing is, this is what I'm looking since half a year before! His PL peaks from Mg-doped GaN samples were pretty much identical with what I got in my (*****) samples! That's impressive! I'll read all his papers in the coming weekend. He's answered most the questions in my p-doped samples... haha!

There're also some other good presentations, about InN, etc, that I believe a pretty good achievements. However, there're presentations like Moth-Eye surface LED that I already saw before, at Japan-China-India Workshop held at my university. The GaN growth on Si substrate presented by a student in Sawaki Group (Nagoya Univ) was also a blend of old and new results. I saw part of the content at Tokai Region Nitride Research Meeting last year, and there was talk about research on AlN growth by Mie university group which I saw during the same meeting last month (at Meijo Univ).

Okay, that's all. Bye ^_^

alan - 心・戰 Xin Zhan ~Red Cliff~ complete music video (with English translation)

Watched Red Cliff movie with Mr Shimada last night. Really like this ending theme... the music is so soothing :)

Misha Omar - Dedebu Cinta

An exhilarating voice of Misha Omar, one of my favorite Malaysian pop singer.

Warisan - Anak Kecil Main Api

A song that brings my heart to the past...

Some breath-taking view photos of my hometown city...

Owhh... I could spot my house, the nearby sport stadium, airport, and my playground... haha! Really miss this place.


A Malaysia Airlines B747 jumbo plane during landing at Sultan Mahmud Airport, Kuala Terengganu. See the stadium in the background? I pass that place everyday to go to my school last 15 years ago :) (at that time, there's not even a single building on that ex-paddy field area).

Mid-term Presentaton

Finished my mid-term presentation for my laboratory in the evening... :) This is the first time I did it in English. Usually, I did it in Japanese, but today, Josephine and Pum did it in English, so ME TOO! I'm a foreign student, not a Japanese! Doing it in English is far more easier, but the problem is we cannot expect questions from the Japanese students, that's why all my previous presentation in the laboratory were made in Japanese.

About the presentation... hmm... just showing my old data. Six-month-old data. So, Even egawa sensei didn't ask me because he already knows what the content is. My new data is still very confidential at the moment. Probably, Egawa is the first guy who will see it, haha... I've gave him some hint about it a couple of days ago. So, he expect me to show him the data. Haha... most part of the analysis has finished, just a few corrections that I'm working with. Insya'ALLAH, at least another paper for this data alone... Insya'ALLAH :)

Okay, have to get some sleep. So tired because as usual, had seminar after the presentation, had some shopping at Jusco after that, and had hot-pot with my friend at home... haha! Too much activities in a single day... too tired.

See ya'!

YATTA!!!

Ha ha...! Really like this one! So simple (maybe stupid), but it's very interesting!

Nagoya Hari Raya Party

Today, wa had Malaysian Hari Raya party at International Students House Lobby, Nagoya Institute of Technology. The event was partipated by Malaysian communities living around Nagoya and Toyota city. We had a lot of Malay dishes! Haha... really enjoyed it! I'll post more pictures soon ^-^

Happy Hari Raya to All

Maybe it's still not too late to wish Happy Hari Raya Aidilfitri to all Muslims around the globe. I don't have much time to spend time blogging here these days, but I really miss this site. Called my family back home in Malaysia, but seems everybody's too tired with the celebration and open house... so nobody wanted to speak with me... hmmm. Okay, till then. Wassalam.

Turn off indexing and speed up Windows XP

If you don't use Windows XP's built-in search often (like every day), disabling indexing can significantly speed up your PC.

By default Windows XP indexes files on your hard drive and stores them in memory to speed up its' built-in search. But if you rarely use Windows search, turn off indexing to free up memory and CPU horsepower for the files and applications you actually do use. A few simple how-to steps after the jump.

To turn off indexing:

1. Open up "My Computer."
2. Right-click on your hard drive (usually "C:") and choose "Properties."
3. Uncheck the box at the bottom that reads "Allow Indexing Service to..."
4. Click OK, and files will be removed from memory. This removal may take a few minutes to complete.

To disable the indexing service:

1. In the "Start" menu, choose "Run."
2. Type "services.msc" and press Enter.
3. Scroll-down to "Indexing Service" and double-click it.
4. If the service status is "Running", then stop it by pressing the "Stop" button.
5. To make sure this service doesn't run again, under "Startup Type:", choose "Disabled."

Windows search will still work if you perform these steps, but it will work more slowly than if indexing was enabled.

*****
The document was taken from:
http://lifehacker.com/software/optimization/turn-off-indexing-and-speed-up-windows-xp-031440.php

New! Geng: The Adventure Begins Trailer 2

Haha... proud to be Malaysian!

PETRONAS CHINESE NEW YEAR 2008 AD, REUNION DINNER

I like this one, from Petronas Malaysia.

Finished temperature-dependence photoluminescence (PL) measurements...

So tired... finally finished TD-PL just now, from 5K to 300K (10K increment for 5K-100K & 20K increment for 100K-300K). There's 5 samples to measure... actually, it's not the sample which make it hard, but the temperature increment which make it very boring measurement. At first, I had to put my samples into a cryostat, cools the cryostat using liquid Helium until it reaches 5K, and increase the temperature according to the measurement parameter using a heater. And, there's a lot of waiting to get the temperature stabilized, before doing the photoluminescence (PL) measurement.

What makes it a tiring measurement is... there was problem with the diffusion pump when I vacuum the cryostat last night (after putting my sample in). Even after waiting for 2 hours, the pressure still at 2 x 10^(-2) Pa. It should be around 1 x 10^(-4) Pa after 40 minutes pumping...

Then, when it reached 5K this morning, I found that the He-Cd (helium-cadmium) laser [used to excite electron in MQW (multi-quantum-well) structure of my sample] didn't reflected properly / passing properly through mirror / lenses on the optical configuration. The worse thing is I found 2 laser spot on my sample, even though there's only 1 laser used in the configuration. I think somebody has accidentally touched the mirror/lenses on the optical table... I was soooooooooo ANGRY!!! But, who? Arghhh...

Fortunately, I fixed the mirror direction on the optical table to get 1 laser spot on my sample... fortunately... seems like it's ok. Dr. Ishikawa must be sooo angry if he found that thing happened again. Everybody who do PL must be angry if he/she found the laser is reflected to different direction... it's normal thing in this field. But, who did it? Hmm... no idea... maybe those guys... (no more comments)

Okay, I've to go home... so tired. I've to spend many hours to analyze the PL data...

Just hoping I could sleep well tonight... Insya'Allah.

~~~ So happy to see a mail from Chongqing in my mailbox just now :) ~~~

Yet another ω-2θ scan...

Doing omega-2theta scan for my MQW sample on GaN substrate. Got the BEST result I've ever collected for my MQW structure! And hope this is among the best result in the world! Alhamdulillah... berkat bulan Ramadhan.

Japan Applied Physics Society Fall Meeting

Japan Applied Physics Society Fall Meeting is being held at Chubu University, not so far from Nagoya. I also went there to listen for special symposium on GaN research today. The speakers are Prof. Akasaki (Meijo Univ.), Prof. Amano (Meijyo Univ.), Prof. Shuji Nakamura (Univ. of California at Santa Barbara), and a guy from Toyoda Gosei (sorry, not remember his name) who is managing opto-electronics department there.

Frankly speaking, I've read/seen most of the contents in their presentations, but listening to their presentations gave me a perspective that they've devoted all their life for what they've done. They also have pride in what they're doing... that's very obvious. Although there's not so much I could learn from their presentation, at least their hard work gave me some glory for what I'm doing.

The most important presentation is about LED and LD on m-plane GaN which is scheduled for tomorrow at 9AM. I'll be there, for sure.

Met Prof. E* as soon as I returned to the laboratory this evening. There's a lot of thing on schedule to be done... but not to say anything here. Also got sample from Suzuki-san. And had some discussion with Nomura-san about the sample I asked him to grow on tomorrow. Now, actually, I'm doing XRD (x-ray-diffraction) scan for the sample I received from Suzuki-san just now. The characterization will finish tomorrow morning at 7:30AM (it takes 12 hour)... so tonight will be another sleepless night for me. I've to finish it before 8AM as it takes around 1 hour to go to Chubu Univ. from my university, by train and feeder-bus, to listen for the m-plane GaN LED/LD tomorrow morning at 9AM.

Okay, good luck for everybody! :)

Got my Onda VX-777!

Haha... the gadget I waited for a week finally arrived. So happy :)

Toki Premium Outlet Store

Yesterday, I went to Toki Premium outlet store in Toki-city, Gifu Prefecture with my room-mate (Kucai). I first thought that it was impossible to make it yesterday since the weather was raining hardly. But, we really made it! Haha! Kucai drove his car along the entire journey which took 2 hours for each single trip. Stopped at Sushiro (an Osakan sushi restaurant) at Tajimi-city (in Gifu Prefecture) on our way back to Nagoya. Happppy! :)

My Sacrifice by Creed : Tribute to Anwar Ibrahim

This is a Malaysian hero, the man who struggles his entire life for the nation. God bless you Anwar!

Ramlang Porigi Dipaksa Saksi

Moved back to my old room...

As what I've been told by Prof. E* yesterday, my group members and I have to clear the room we're now which is owned by Assoc. Prof. I*. Today, Prof E* told me (and others in the room) to move to my older room, which is owned by him. So... since morning, we moved... until around 3PM. I appreciate Shu-san and Pum-san, both who helped me cleaning the (new) room and moving my goods. So tired... I should've finished my Hall measurement if there was no moving today. At 4:30, I watched Shu-san's presentation for his PhD entrance exam, together with E* sensei and Pum-san. Alhamdulillah, I could learn a lot from his presentation (and actively gave my ideas to improve his presentation and experiments). I also told E* sensei that I'll attend the conference in Malaysia next November, and all my ideas to improve my LD (aready made discussion with my junior, Maki-san yesterday) . There's a lot to do with it, but I feel very happy as my involvement with this research would be a very valuable experience for my own life and future industrial breakthrough... Alhamdulillah :)

The room I've to leave... really miss this place...

My new place... syukur dgn setiap kurniaan-Nya.

本当にこれで良いのか、かなり悩んだ！

[I don't know whether this is the best decision I've made... but anyhow, I've chose it to be like this. I'm really sorry...]

From ****d *huh*im* <*huh*im*@m**.com>
To 王**
Cc *huh*imi@nano******.com
Date Fri, Aug 22, 2008 at 7:54 PM
Subject RE: For the IMRC 2008
Mailed-by m**.com

Hide details Aug 22 (1 day ago)

Reply

Dear Prof. Wang,

Thank you for the invitation to be a reviewer for Symposium D.
However, as my field of research is limited to GaN-based material growth on Si-substrates, its characterization and device processing, I am very sorry because I cannot accept your invitation to be a reviewer for the attached papers. The materials used in the attached papers are totally different from my specialization.

Thank you very much.

Yours sincerely,

****d *huh*im* **n **u ***ar
*g*wa Laboratory,
Research Center for Nano-***** and Sy***m,
**go*a ******* of *******,
**go*a ***-****, *i*h*, Japan.
E-mail: *huh*im*@**n.com / *huh*im*@nano******.com
Tel: +81-52-73*-5*** (ext: 5*4*)
Fax: +81-52-73*-5***


From: 王** [mailto:wang**@**d.semi.ac.cn]
Sent: Friday, August 22, 2008 12:36 PM
To: *huh*im*@**n.com
Subject: For the IMRC 2008

Dear *huh*im*,
Thank you for supporting the IMRC-2008 Symposium.
On the behalf of all the organizers, we invite you
to be reviewer of the Symposium D. The papers that
need reviewed are attached in this email.

Once you received this email, whether you want to be
the reviewer or not, would you please reply this email
as soon as possible? If you want to help us to review the papers,
please send the reviewed papers before 5 september 2008.

There are 3 journals for the papers to be published,
Journal of materials research , Science in China E and Journal of Physics: Conference Series.
If you want to help us to review the paper, in your replied email , along with your comments, please attach the journal that the paper can be published.

Thank you very much

Yours Sincerely
IMRC-2008 Symposium

Wishing you a HAPPY life...

Sometimes, we're too focused on our own target a few miles away... that we forgotten somebody right beside us... who's seeking for our love...

Really prayed to God for you to live in happiness, with a loving family and cheerful friends...

Don't know why... this blog is jamming...

Today I found out that the youtube video I shared in this blog using the "Sharing" panel inside youtube, which failed to appear at the time I shared them, just appeared... but with 4 videos appearing continuously in the posts. No... they looked not as I thought it should be... so I deleted them all. Actually, I don't want this blog to be a collection of videos. I have a large collection of videos at youtube... this blog should be a blog, with my own writing. I write to improve my own english writing (most of the time)... not to show my writing to others. This blog itself is only known by me and a only few people... no more than 10 persons. Blogging is a personal thing... the more viewer you got, the harder for you to write about them. I keep thing about myself private most of the time... :)

Grapes-picking in Okazaki

Have to take some time to update this blog. Actually, I'd some nice activities this week. After having tough time last 2 weeks, I went for a grape-picking at Okazaki-city, Aichi (JP). Okazaki is a city within Aichi prefecture, the same prefecture where Nagoya-city and Toyota-city are. It sounds close to Nagoya, but... when going there by car using normal road, it took 3 hours per trip. That means we spent 6 hours being stuck in a car just to pick some grapes to eat. Haha... maybe buying grapes at a supermarket next to my apartment is easier. But hey... we love something challenging, right!? At least I could get some relief from stress I had (mostly from laboratory jobs). Haha... see the pic? Everybody's smiling :)

Ustaz Azhar Idrus - Sesungguhnya Manusia Itu Dlm Kerugian

An Islamic preach from an ustaz from Kuala Terengganu (Malaysia) in my nostalgic Terengganu slang... impressive!

Nuclear First Strike on Iran? Israel's Options, Time is Running Out

Ethanol in Brazil

Documentary on bio-ethanol production in Brazil from sugarcane.

鬼束ちひろ - 流星群

One of my loved Japanese singer with a wonderful voice. This is Onitsuka Chihiro with her Ryuuseigun song, a romantic lyric with a very inspiring melody. You can get a better audio version in my Imeem Best 100 playlist.

Ungu feat. Rossa - Tercipta Untukku (HQ Audio/Video)

Best lagu nih... added to my Imeem Best 100 playlist yesterday, after watching the movie Ayat Ayat Cinta. Enjoy!

Akuan Bersumpah Penyiasat Persendirian Razak Baginda

Found an interesting story about Singapore...

Things that some Singaporeans Believe!

Do you know why New Changi Hospital (NCH) changed its name to Changi General Hospital (CGH)?
Because NCH stands for "Never Come Home". That's why business was very bad before it changed its name.

Now CGH stands for "Can Go Home". So business is picking up.

Business in Singapore General Hospital (SGH) is still going strong because SGH stands for "Sure Go Home"!

Now National University Hospital (NUH) is also considering a name change. It stands for "No Use Hospital"!

What about Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH). Not too good a name, no wonder so much problem.
It stands for "Tiam Tiam Si Hospital" and now 'Tan Teo SARs Hospital".

So, be careful of choosing which hospital to go if anyone is unwell.

Reporting from IMRC 2008 Chongqing (China): Day 4

Had breakfast with Sumathi at 8:00. We should had met Liang at her hotel at 9:00 but we seems a little late, so I called her to wait at the exhibition center. Before 10:00 we met at sesion D. We took taxi to Ciqikou Ancient Town... around RMB30 from the exhibition center. Very nice place... maybe they want to keep its image like Kyoto in Japan. But China is far more civilised than any other country in East-Asia, that makes an ancient town in China more valuable for a visit than any other places in East-Asia (in my opinion lah, other people may have different view).

Took countless number of pictures and videos... and bought many souvenirs. But... alas... you know... I'm a 'kedekut' (mean) guy... all those souvenirs are for my family members, and very close friends in Japan. Others... I MUST say NO! I bring just a small amount of money here... and I'm in a very tight budget. I spent too much before coming here... new bags, new digital camera, new suit, new neck-tie, new black shoe, ... but didn't made any new girlfriend. I like to be single... having a girlfrind is tiring... it's like keeping a hamster in your room. If you don't clean it properly, your room will smell weird. A girlfrind is the same i guess... so, to play safe... being alone is a million times better. I love my life. If I had a girlfriend, it must be very hard for me to go out with my other friends, etc... it might be hard to xplain when your girlfriend get jealous, right? To me, to play safe is not "use condom", but "don't do it"!

[Update: I think I might need a girlfriend right beside me right now... my life is too lonely...]

Ohh... back to my story lah... bought a flower vase (extremely beautiful!), some "gantung-gantung" (hanging) thingy for cars, some "gantung-gantung" things to get good luck ("福"), some foods (like biscuits lah... not sure its name)... etc. The vase is very nice. I would recommend you to go to the Ciqikou if you visit Chongqing, it's a MUST!

At 19:00, Sumathi, Gadkari and I went to the muslim restaurant I went with Songying last Sunday. This time, a little wiser. I ordered a mutton hot-plate (also has meat, but Sumathi and Gadkari is Hindu, so they don't eat meat). And I ordered a Dapanji also (dapanji is like a chicked curry... with potatoes, etc inside, just like Indian curry). We got rice and Nan bread also. You know how much is it? ONLY RMB72! And it feeds 3 person, with some foods left on the table! It's damn cheap! Averyone was so excited, because we spent around RMB100 just to get a plate of nasi goreng/ vegetable curry at our hotel. The food we ate at Ciqikou was also at nearly the same price... RMB78... so generally speaking, RMB60-90 could feed around 3 persons at a good restaurants in this city. Quite OK... just like Malaysia. At cheap places, you can even get a meal at around RMB5/person, but I cannot eat pork/meat so the price I paid for what I got is just nice for me... even though I'm a little bit picky when eating. I remember what Gadkari told me a couple nights ago, "Good people should stay at a good place, and eat good foods!" I agree with that... but for me, I'll try to "Take the best at the lowest cost!" That's my "kedekut" policy... everybody knows that already... haha!

Reporting from IMRC 2008 Chongqing (China): Day 3

Listen to presentations at session D since morning. There's a talk at 12:45 about photovoltaics by US Energy ??? Department. After that, met Liang at session D, and met Sophia during evening tea. Sophia told us about where to go for a travel / souvenir bargain... we planned for Chiqikou Ancient Town next morning.

Went to see Liang's poster during her session. She's doing about XRD on GaN stress, bandgap, etc... had a very worthful discussion about method to measuer stress using RSM. It's something I wanted to know since a few month ago... she's working with a guy from Bede XRD maker... so she must have a good knowledge about XRD, must be far better than I am. A simple comment about her... she's just like Murakami-san, my colleague at Egawa Lab a few years ago...

We had dinner in the evening at 19:00. But, I was a little late because I helped Liang with her poster... I sat with researchers/students form Chinese Academy of Science... averybody spoke in Chinese, so I was the most clueless guy in that hall (I think lah...). Seram aku dibuatnyer!

Reporting from IMRC 2008 Chongqing (China): Day 2

Today, I joined the trip organized by Chongqing Science and Technology Co-operation (CSTC). The IMRC meeting itself is organized by CSTC in China, alogether with MRS in the USA. The trip started from Chongqing Exhibition and Convention Center at 13:30, when we're brought to Three Gorges Museum and Chongqing City Planning Museum. Today is my 2nd time at the Three Gorges Museum... already went there last Sunday with Songying. But this time, we make lot of jokes lah... especially among young students at the same age just like me (some are younger).

Today, I met with Sophia. Actually, she is a staff at CSTC... the one who send out the invitation letter for me a few weeks ago. How nice we can get face to face. I'm not sure one thing about Chinese girl... I think they're just too open to foreign guys like me. If they wanna took pictures, they just ask without hesitate. The opposite custome is with Japanese girls... the Japanese're more shy like Malays (in my opinion lah kan). Still wondering... maybe this only applies to Chongqing girls, because... hmmm... cannot explain too much here.

In the evening, I went out with Dr. Gadkari from Mumbai University and Sumathi from Universiti Sains Malaysia. All 3 of us bought a lot of souvenirs for our colleagues back home... maybe I bought the least because I don't want spend much on others... that's my "kedekut" policy. Nahh... normal lah, I'm a student... they're professor and lecturer. Actually, I just came back from dinner with Gadkari at Marriott Cafe downstairs. The cafe is quite good... I was charged RMB107 just for a plate of vegetable curry (with rice) and a cup of tea. Haha... dining outside is better, but most have closed when we came back from shopping. Terpaksa lahhh... (kedekut nyer aku...)

Reporting from IMRC 2008 Chongqing (China): Day 1

We have the opening ceremony of the IMRC in the morning. Chinese Minister of Science and Technology was also there and gave speech on Chinese focus on managing their energy needs. Then, we have talk from Prof. Alan Heager (nobel laurette) who gave talk on his flexible polymer solar cell research. I think, this is the direction we're moving on for the future, since it can be easily produced with roll-printing technology, at an extremely low cost! This would bring Si-based solar cell division in Sharp and Kyocera in Japan to bankrupcy!

I've great interest also on lighting for panel display. I went to E session on flat-panel display during the evening session, and heard talks from researchers at Samsung Electronics, Univ. of Florida, and others.

My poster session started at 17:30 and a researcher from LG Electronics was very interested in InGaN-based LED on Si. Actually, he was from LD group at LG, but they have abandoned the research on LD since Nichia's LD on GaN is becoming too cheap, and he said that they can get a 400 nm InGaN-based LD for Blu-ray just for 3 US dollars per piece! That's pretty cheap! He said that their group is now working on green LED, instead of blue... as the blue emitting devices is controlled by Nichia. Quite a nice information I get from him. My poster have attracted quite a number of people/companies working on III-Vs and compound materials growth and devices. The other one is from Micro Materials, a company from UK who're working on GaAs growth. The other one is a guy from Asylum Research working on Emcore MOCVD instrument. Hmmm.... I'm using instrument from Taiyo Nippon Sanso, though. Others are students from Chinese universities... wanting to know about temperature-dependence PL, HR-XRD, etc. Like to discuss with them better than those guys from companies, because they would share their problems, instead of try commercialize my solutions. Great experiences though...

Before the meeting ends, I went around the poster session and met a colleague from USM (Universiti Sains Malaysia). Haha... finally, I could find somebody to speak in Malay with! Co-incidently, she's also staying at my hotel. So, boleh la ajak jalan2 skali lepas nih... haha!

Reporting from IMRC 2008 Chongqing (China): Day 0

Now settling at JW Marriott Chongqing.

Met with Songying this morning at 9 AM (she come to my hotel), and went to People's Hall & Chongqing Museum (they're nearby). She found me the Muslim restaurant at Zhong Xing Lu (Lu means road in English), at Jiao Chang Kou. The restaurant name is Shin Jiang Tien Shan restaurant. You probably need a Chinese speaking person to understand the menu. There's a mosque just next to the restaurant. The foods're fabulous! But they're hot like crazy! We ordered 4 kinds of foods... but its too much for us to finish them all. We left almost half of them... mottinai!

Went to Chongqing Zoo afterward. Sonyging's cousin and grandfather are living just next to the zoo. She's quite familiar with the zoo, she even went there almost everyweek since her child age. We went to almost every corner of the zoo, and took many pictures too! One of the best attaction of the zoo is PANDA! But, this panda is very dirty... it's not black and white, but black and yellow in color! From that trip I also learned that Panda is a very lazy animal... especially when its get older. The younger one is very active in playing though... and they're cute!

The IMRC (International Material Research Conference) at Chongqing International Exhibition and Convention Center started at 17:00, and I went there by shuttle bus from Marriott prepared by the organizer. I met Dr. Gadkari from from Mumbai University in India, and talk a lot with him. I also met some post-graduate students from Chinese universities who're interested to know about Japan and its universities. The Chinese're shy... just like Japanese... maybe most Asian is like that, so do I. But we managed to know each other very closely... that's so great. When boarding the shuttle bus to return to the hotel, I met with Dr. Ashwaal from US Naval Research Laboratory... he talked a lot about the politics and administration in India and the US. From the language and perspective he had, I knew that he's a very capable person and brilliant. He even was at IIT (Indian Institute of Technology - said to be MIT of India).

Okay, that's all for the moment. I've to prepare for my presentation tomorrow. See ya!

How to install Windows Live Messenger/Mail/etc... when you have problems...

Actually, I have experienced this problem too. Except it was when I was REINSTALLING WLM 8.5

This is what you do:
Go to:
C:/Documents and Settings/All Users/Application Data (in XP)
or
C:/ProgramData (in Vista)
and delete following folders: "WindowsLiveInstaller" and "WLInstaller".

Next, go to:
C:/Program Files/Windows Live (for XP and Vista)
and delete the "Installer" folder.

(remember to show hidden files before doing any of this)
Once you do that, you SHOULD be able to install WLM 8.5 with no problems.

Jejak Awang Goneng 1

Very nostalgic indeed...

Got my original invitation letter... Alhamdulillah

Alhamdulillah, semalam pukul 5 petang sampai jugak akhirnya invitation letter yg Paula Mahar dari Materials Research Society pos kat aku minggu lepas. Alhamdulillah... masa tu mmg pikiran dah berkecamuk... tgh tulih e-mail nak antar kat Paula (MRS) ngan Xuan (CSTC)... tp Alhamdulillah, kuasa Allah... tiba-tiba... Ms Watanabe dtg, "Shuhaimi-san, todokimasita (En. Shuhaimi, dah sampai)!". ... "Yatta (Cayalah)!"

Cepat2 lepas tu aku call Ms Hashimoto kat Aichi-Ka-Yuu Travel utk Chinese Visa application. Alhamdulillah, lepas tu gi office derang, apply, and boleh save JPY3,000 sbb takyah buat express application. Buat normal 4-days application jer, JPY8,000 semua skali (F-type visa).

********Rentetan Kisah Visa************

• Pegi Chinese Consulate Nagoya, diorang bg tau kena apply throughtravel agent yg dilantik, dan dpt list utk agen kat Nagoya.
• Sbb derang nak original invitation letter, aku call Ms Xuan kat Chongqing Science and Technology Commission, China supaya hantar original invitation letter tu kat address aku. Sebelum tu dah dapat yg scanned version Paula Mahar dari MRS hantar through e-mail.
• Xuan hantar kat aku on Friday, 3 hari lepas tu on Isnin, gempa bumi besar berlaku kat Shichuan (dekat jer ngan Chongqing nih)
  
• Seminggu lebih lepas tu, Paula bg tau through e-mail MRS dah terima invitation letter. Aku bg address Egawa Lab utk hantar surat tu.
• Should sampai last Wednesday... tp tunggu2 tak sampai gak.
• Call JTB Sakae Nagoya on Thursday tanya pasal Chinese Visa application, sbb syarikat yg jumpa masa kat Chinese Consulate tu cakap kena buktikan ada JPY500,000 dlm akaun utk apply visa. JTB tak sure, tp die tak buat visa application utk org yg tak beli tiket ngan derang. Tp Ms Yamamoto tu banyak bg tau maklumat tentang visa application. TERUTAMANYA, FOREIGNERS YG BERADA DI JEPUN DENGAN STATUS VISA "COLLEGE STUDENT" (aku lah tu) TAK BOLEH APPLY VISA KE CHINA GUNA TRAVEL VISA (C) STATUS. Dia cakap kalau nak buat travel visa buat dari negara asal, means Malaysia lah.
• Called Chinese Consulate Nagoya tentang status visa yg patut aku apply. Die bg tau, kalau utk international conference, tak boleh buat travel visa, kena buat VISIT VISA (F). Dan original invitation letter issued by Chinese Government kena ada utk diorang issue travel visa. Aku ada yg scanned copy jer, so takleh buat apa2. Nak apply utk visit visa (C) pun takleh. So kenalah tunggu utk original invitation letter tu sampai. Chinese consulate pun bg tau takde syarat utk buktikan miliki JPY500,000 dlm akaun utk buat visa ke China, kalau Hong Kong barulah ada syarat... tp utk Chongqing (tanah besar) takde syarat.
  
• Called Aichi-Ka-Un Travel (Chinese travel company) utk tanya pasal visa application. They're so helpful, dan banyak tolong. Diorang pun ada kaitan rapat dgn Chinese Consulate Nagoya. Diorang bg tau harga JPY8,000 utk normal, JPY11,000 utk express.
• Faxed scanned copy of the invitation letter to Chinese Consulate, and they called me immediately afterward saying OK... but they need original during application. Paling lewat apply boleh on Tuesday necxt week katanya (xpress application)... bergantung kpd agent jugak lah.
• Pagi Jumaat semalam bg tau Ms Watanabe (secretary Research Center for Nano-Device and System, Nagoya Inst of Tech) pasal surat dari MRS that I should receive this week... but she said till today x de surat lg.
• Lepas semayang Jumaat, sambung buat kerja, dah dekat pukul 5 ptg (abis waktu kerja, Watanabe san balik, means no letter will arrive anymore this week), wrote e-mail to Paula and Xuan pasal invitation letter tu. Kalau tak sampai by Monday next week aku nak suruh Xuan (CSTC) fax direct ke Chinese Consulate Nagoya.
• Alhamdulillah, sebelum sempat tekan butang "Send", Watanabe-san dtg bilik aku bg surat tu, bersama dgn borang utk diisi utk claim duit travel dan elaum makan & hotel ke China tu semua.
• Kuwar duit kat ATM, pergi print "zaigaku-syoumeisyo (certificate of existence at school/university)", terus pg Aichi-Ka-Yuu Travel utk apply.

Thanks everybody :) Love Allah :)

Parlimen Malaysia : Isu Ranking Universiti | Adik Najib

Mahathir Makan Hati Hingga Ke Negara Penjajah , Jepun

Wow! It's so high!

This is the first time I book a flight pricing more than JPY100,000. And, it's just to go to a neighbouring country!

A**M*D ******* さま

本日はご依頼ありがとうございます、重慶行きの回答です

6/7　名古屋(14:55)-重慶(20:10)

6/13　重慶(7:30)-名古屋(13:55)

料金は￥81500+tax(約20000円）　です。
5/26にチケッティングです。

上記の便にて手配できますが、予約は入れてみないとOKか
どうかわかりません、お早めにご予約くださいませ。

ありがとうございました。

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　旅行サービス担当　　**　**　
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　JR券、宿泊、国内・海外航空券等の手配はメールでも承っております
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Got my room reserved... Alhamdulillah...

My reservation for J. W. Marriott at Chongqing (China) for IMRC next month has been confirmed, with special rate offered by MRS. The staff at Chongqing even faxed me the confirmation receipt. Very warm welcome indeed.

The staff also told me that transit between airport and the hotel is around RMB100~150, more than half the limousine rate advertised by Marriott. There'll be daily transit between the hotel and Chongqing International Convention Center during the conference, so I could save some bucks there too. Alhamdulillah...

Date : May 02, 2008
Subject : Reservation Confirmation

Greetings from JW Marriott Hotel Chongqing!

May we take this opportunity to say “Thank you very much” for choosing the JW Marriott hotel Chongqing for your forthcoming visit to Chongqing.We are pleased to confirm the following reservations for you and your company:

Name of Guest : ** ** ** ** **
Arr Date/Flight : 07 Jun 08
Dep Date/Flight : 1* Jun 08
Rooms/Room Type : 1 Deluxe King
Rate Per Room : RMB600.00 including one breakfast per room per night
Confirmation No. : 88*0*0**

If we can be of any further assistance, please let us know.
All of us look forward to welcoming you to the JW Marriott Hotel Chongqing soon.

Yours sincerely from Chongqing!

Reservation Dept.

GUARANTEE & CANCELLATION POLICY
Kindly be advised that your reservation is guaranteed. Any cancellation after Apr 01, 2008 or no show, there will be one night room rate charge.
Reservation Hotline (86 23) 63001700
Reservation Fax No. (86 23) 63815217

Parlimen Malaysia = Tolong Duduk , Tolong Diam

Persidangan parlimen Malaysia yang berlangsung di "Sabah"...

Summary from NHK The Professionals

Got many good points from a programme called The Professionals aired on NHK just now. These're the tips from Mogi Kenichiro (Ph. D), to get our brain fully activated. Mogi Kenichiro is a researcher at Sony Computer System Laboratory (also teching at Tokyo Institute of Technology, and others).

How to memorize easily:
-Don't just read silently. SAY it with your mouth, and WRITE it. You can memorize easier when your body parts work for it. As what shown in the programme, both left and right brains get blood when a person memorize a word by READING, SAYING and WRITING. When he memorize by just reading the word, only A (very very) FEW PART of his right brain filled with blood. (Brain cells will get more blood when thinking / working for something).

How to get shuchuryoku at work:
-Use each short time / minute you have wisely. For example, check/correct your journal while walking / waiting for elevator, write journal while in taxi / wait. Make sure you do it in a manner that any part of your body could MOVE. The most difficult level (don't do it this way lah) is by doing it with your mind alone, such as thinking about your schedule while walking / printing. Simply spoken, let your body DO / WORK for something all the time. The more you body works, more neurons will get activated, which could finally give you more shuuchu-ryoku.

What a good instructor do?
- Homeru koto. homeru koto ni yotte, gakusei ni yaru ki wo dasu. Something (I forgot the name) will be released in the brain which give your student / partner "minat" when you "homeru" him / her. The best thing is "puji" him / her right just after he/ she did it. As an instructor, find the chance to "puji" your student!

What a good leader do when he was appointed a new uncertain project:
- Never show / tell your "buka" what you actually feel (risky / uncertain / yuragiru kimochi).

Mode-swithing. How to switch from working mode to family mode when returning home from work:
- Get relaxed, or do something than can give you relaxation, eg. get into bath-tub, change your clothes, go for a walk or play with your dog, etc.

In long-term relationship, how to avoid from getting bored with your partner:
- It's natural for a human to find / experience new thing in our life. That what makes us different than other creatures, so that human develops from time to time. We're looking / finding / researching new thing that we don't know / understand. When we get used to it, we'll change / develop so that a new thing will be built / created. However, in relationship, it's hard to change somebody or get him / her changed. Therefore, the best thing to do is by changing / developing ourself. By doing this, we'll find something that we've never found before in our partner, that finally could prevent us from getting bored with him / her. What a good answer!

Maybe I should search for his books on Amazon.jp... really interesting!

The good days are becoming better!

Alhamdulillah, banyak perkara menarik yg berlaku bebrapa hari nih. Dua hari lepas dpt mail dari Tsuchiya-san die akan bagi 30 ketul heat-sink yg aku mintak dlm mail sebelum tuh. Alhamdulillah... dapat jugak akhirnya. Walaupun cuma 30 bijik, tapi sebenarnya mahal tuh... setiap satu bersalut emas. Maybe Egawa sensei call die mintak heat-sink tu rasanya sbb hari sebelum tu Egawa ada tanya ttg heat-sink tu. Thanks Tsuchiya, thanks Egawa... love Allah!

Tapi dapat heat-sink tu pun, still kena beli jugak heat-sink lain. Sbb 30 bijik tu sikit sgt jer. Just cukup utk 1 kali process utk 1 jenis sample saja tu. Aku rasa kena design lain, n kena tempah lain dari Ozawa Science or syarikat kat Hamamatsu yg aku suka tu... hehe... rahsia.

Mlm tadi (semalam waktu US) dah dapat dah mail dari Paula Mahar dari MRS hantar aku nyer surat jemputan dari kerajaan China utk visa application utk IMRC (International Material Research Conference) kat Chongqing next June. Alhamdulillah... boleh proceed ngan visa application lepas nih.

Semua xperiment utk IMRC tu pun dah siap semalam... XRD dan PL... penatnyer buat 2 mende nih. Lepas nih nak analysis data, maybe makan masa 1 minggu jugak (Insya'Allah harap boleh siap during weekend nih). Drpd data yg beratus2 tu (may even break 1000 datas), buat AFM utk sample yg perlu saja. So, boleh jimatkan masa sket.

Okaylah tu saja dulu. Nak kuwarkan sample semalam dari mini-cryostat masa PL measurement semalam. Okay, bye. Insya'Allah... kejayaan untuk semua umat Islam!

Finally we GOT it! ... after so much sacrifices ...

	Tracking number 865280571362 Signed for by .ABU BAKAR Ship date Apr 12, 2008 Delivery date Apr 19, 2008 10:00 AM		Reference 26859 Destination TERENGGANU MY Delivered to Receptionist/Front Desk Service type Priority Box Weight 7.9 lbs.
	Status Delivered
	Signature image available No

Date/Time

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Details

Apr 19, 2008

10:00 AM

Delivered

TERENGGANU MY

10:00 AM

Delivery exception

SEPANG MY

Incorrect address

7:59 AM

On FedEx vehicle for delivery

SEPANG MY

Apr 18, 2008

2:14 PM

At local FedEx facility

SEPANG MY

2:13 PM

Delivery exception

SEPANG MY

Holiday - Business closed

10:00 AM

Delivery exception

SEPANG MY

Incorrect address

8:31 AM

On FedEx vehicle for delivery

SEPANG MY

Apr 17, 2008

6:19 PM

At local FedEx facility

SEPANG MY

3:00 PM

Delivery exception

SEPANG MY

Incorrect address

2:57 AM

On FedEx vehicle for delivery

SEPANG MY

2:56 AM

At local FedEx facility

SEPANG MY

Apr 16, 2008

1:58 PM

Int'l shipment release

SEPANG MY

8:31 AM

In transit

SEPANG MY

Package available for clearance

2:52 AM

Departed FedEx location

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT PH

1:18 AM

Arrived at FedEx location

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT PH

Apr 15, 2008

8:50 PM

In transit

SEPANG MY

Paperwork available

Apr 14, 2008

10:35 AM

Departed FedEx location

ANCHORAGE, AK

6:07 AM

Arrived at FedEx location

ANCHORAGE, AK

Apr 13, 2008

6:15 PM

Departed FedEx location

MEMPHIS, TN

1:29 PM

Departed FedEx location

MEMPHIS, TN

1:01 PM

Arrived at FedEx location

MEMPHIS, TN

Apr 12, 2008

11:16 PM

At local FedEx facility

PHILADELPHIA, PA

10:25 PM

At local FedEx facility

PHILADELPHIA, PA

5:02 PM

Picked up

PHILADELPHIA, PA